Corrupted Center
by Neurotic-Phoenix
Summary: A zombie apocalypse has risen from the underworld at the hands of Pitch Black, who sends his two demons Jokul and Toothless to kill and claim the souls of a specific group of survivors. Hiccup, Jack and the other's must somehow make it through a disaster ripped society and make it back to Berk Island. A Hijack/Frostcup zombie/apocalypse AU


A/N: Haha! How's it going everybody? Phoenix here, and I'm actually excited to bring you a new project I've been working on!

As promised, a Hijack Zombie/Apocalypse AU!

I've seen a few suggestions and such about this idea, so I thought I'd make it, but not specific to the standard zombie AU. No, I thought I'd throw in some supernatural happenings, and some demonic creatures and such! Plus it gave a good story for Dark Jack and Toothless to come into!

I'm really enjoying creating the story for this, I think you guy's will appreciate the ending for this!

Keep in mind this project is just really a tester! I'm hard at work with my other Fic Frosted Aspiration!

Depending on the reviews and feedback I get from this project, will determine if I continue this fic or not, It's really up to you guys, I'd love to write it for you all, but only if you guys want to read it!

And without further delay; Please enjoy!

_**It was time.**_

Darkness seemed to sweep the earth, darkness in which light held no virtue. The wicked prospered and the honourable perished, or so it seemed at first. The delicate balance of the world had finally been tipped, society all but crumbled and suddenly the world wasn't so black and white anymore. People were no longer distinguishable by their character being good or evil; the line between the two became blurred. Good men and women easily became corrupted by the growing dark, including those whose solitary purpose was to protect and maintain.  
The government had moved as many civilians as possible to live in makeshift camps, feeding them lies of safety and security whilst they 'worked on a solution.'

This was far from any kind of fatal infection the world had seen before, there was more to this than infectious parasites causing madness, rabid behaviour and cannibalism. There was an evil behind this, a dark plague, unleashing hell into the minds of those it could spread to, corrupting them with pain and suffering, driving them instinctively to feed an unquenchable blood lust for not just mankind, but the world. This force, wanted to destroy, **NEEDED** to destroy. It was its sole purpose and only aspiration; the fall of the human race was but the beginning.

The nearby city was far from deserted, the only who roamed there now, or anywhere that wasn't government 'controlled' were the infected, and the bandits. Murderous, soulless and shameless these bandits were, all banding together under one name to profit as much as possible. This downfall was their uprising; homeless, abandoned and imprisoned were the usual backgrounds of these people. Though for now they resided in various parts of the city, planning and plotting their moves and their tactics that were necessary if they were to keep this city for themselves.

The outskirts of the city were silent, less than a mile away within a thick cover of woodland seven teenagers dwelled among a small campfire. To many they were just kids, frightened and alone in a time of crisis. Truthfully they were products of an unjust world, unfettered from the sense of community or belonging to any kind of society. Misfits, rebels and 'undesirables' according to the government. The type of kids who strived to become something greater than corporate workers, kids who couldn't find their dreams through education paths and spurned anyone who attempted to tell them otherwise. These five teenagers, rightfully turned their backs on the government and the _'help'_ they offered, because even at such a young age they knew the only people they could rely on now were each other, not that they could ever count on their government for anything regardless of an apocalypse.

"Okay, let's go over this again." Astrid broadcasted once more, her back straightening as she was overlooking the spread of equipment and supplies from the collection of backpacks.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut moaned in co-ordinance, heads sinking away from the fire they sat near, it was clear they were getting fed-up with repeating themselves. Tuffnut lay on his side, head just about in reach with his sister's, who sat crossed legs.

"Tuffnut and I already snuck into all the nearby food shops on this side of the city," Ruffnut sighed, pulling back her hair from her face. "We looted as much shit as we could carry before we attracted too much attention from the bandits and had to pull out."

"Right, and which is why Fishleg's and Snotlout went to the east side of the city. So where's the stuff from there?" Astrid turned her head to face the two; Fishlegs who sat almost anxiously and Snotlout's usual nonchalant person.

"Uhh, well we only managed to get into one store, a-and there wasn't much there. Then S-Snotlout got into a fight with some bandits."

"_Fuck sake Snotlout!_" Astrid immediately interrupted. "Could you just not have _snuck past them?_ Or gone to a _**different place?**_"

"Those Bandits are a bunch of wimps; I could have _totally_ taken them if I had a weapon!" Snotlout defended his pride, though he refused to make eye-contact with the girl who was obviously glaring with great intensity toward him.

"Ugh, anyway Hiccup, how did you and Jack do with the weapons?" Astrid turned to look directly beside her now. Hiccup was entertaining himself with his drawing, leaning against the same tree Jack was relaxing against, how that boy maintained his aloof persona through this she'd never know.

"Uhh, we did well _I suppose._" Hiccup spoke up; lifting himself off the wall to better see the spread of weapons and ammunition Astrid had unpacked from their rucksacks. We got into the police station just fine, managed to grab mostly small weapons and such; five pistols and enough ammo to get us out of trouble."

"Eh, that means _someone's_ gonna have to go without." Astrid muttered to herself, careful not to sound ungrateful.

"Then Hiccup almost shot himself in the foot when he heard the infected bust through the door." Jack chuckled slowly, ungluing his eyes away from the full night sky to return them to the group.

"Pah Infected! They're _easy_ to take down!" Snotlout grunted aloud.

"So… the next town over isn't too far… I say this should get us there and hopefully we'll find some more stuff there." Astrid shook her head in confirmation of her own words. The group seemed less than enthusiastic to hear a plan. Astrid had clearly taken up the position of sorting out this survival group; which was useful since she seemed to have a clear picture of what to get done first and second, though Hiccup felt he needed to contribute to this whole plan they'd created.

"Astrid, are you sure this is the right thing to-do?" Hiccup asked, closing his book for the second and final time, knowing full well he wouldn't be getting any drawing done tonight.

"Yeah, I mean I say we just go into the city and make a stronghold or something!" Snotlout piped up, quickly earning a "Gods would you _shut it?_" from Tuffnut.

"This city is **way** too dangerous to stay in or even near guys; our best bet is to find somewhere safer and easier to live in." Astrid begun to repack each bag with sufficient content.

"Jumping from place to place not knowing if it's gonna be safe or not doesn't exactly seem like the best plan Astrid." Ruffnut commented.

"_Oh I'm sorry do you have a better one?_" Astrid shot, her voice getting noticeably more irritated, which worried Fishleg's clearly.

"Okay okay guys hold it; we need to stick together here!" Hiccup spoke over them both, eyes watching the crackling fire burn to immerse himself in deep thought. The other's seemed to fall silent in anticipation to what he was clearly mulling over to say, either that or worried the infected might be attracted to their noise.

"We need somewhere… with a guarantee." Hiccup began slowly.

"It's only been three weeks and already cell phones aren't working, electricity is faulty almost everywhere and food in this city is quickly becoming rare… we can't rule out the possibility that it's exactly the same everywhere else." Hiccup began to dwindle his thumbs, Jack seemed still unmoved and the others simply sat still listening.

"You might be onto something here Hiccup… question is what do we do?" Fishlegs spoke up.

"We need to find somewhere we know we won't need to rely on chance or luck-" Astrid was cut off when Jack interrupted swiftly.

"Self-sustaining! We need to find somewhere self-sustaining." Jack straightened up his posture to meet the cautious glares.

"Not many towns are like that anymore Jack, not unless they're really old fashioned." Tuffnut reminded him.

"Are you guys forgetting where you're all from!?" Jack laughed, looking to each of them with an excitable grin.  
"…Berk!" Hiccup got it finally, giving Jack a more than affectionate gaze. Hiccup turned to Astrid, the girl unfortunately didn't follow their apparent silent understanding.

"Don't you remember how Berk worked Astrid? It has its own crops and wildlife for food, it has that hydroelectric dam to generate electricity and it's out on an island away from the mainland!" Hiccup's features lit up at seeing a smile break out on Astrid's face, it had been a while since he saw her smile at all.

"You're right… and the infection broke out on the south east of this country five weeks ago, it hit this city about three weeks ago… there might be no infection there! The infected can't swim through the sea to that Island!" Astrid became more and more ecstatic with each word.

"Yeah, but neither can we, how are we supposed to get there?" Snotlout moaned, rolling his eyes, he was spending too much time with his cousin.

"There has to be a boat or ship near at the coast, if we can reach the next town over we'll take a car and follow the motorway to the coast!" Tuffnut agreed, he and Ruffnut were becoming more and more perked up as their plan became much more vivid and realistic. This was the first piece of solid planning they had managed in a while.

A brief moment ensued in which they all looked to each other with small confirming smiles and nods.

"Alright it's settled, were doing this. Tomorrow." Astrid rubbed the back of her head with a sigh; it was going to be strange going back to Berk. Sure the place was safe, but Astrid was sure it wasn't the infected they had to worry about there. The group had all left Berk rather spontaneously around a year ago; their parents were far too stubborn to leave their Nobel heritage of a sinking island and the kids finally expanded their wings and took off to live on the mainland. Astrid's father had been declining her calls for a while, until finally she just stopped trying. Same with Hiccup, though she was sure she had tried much more than Hiccup had, it's not like his relationship with his father was perfect to begin with.

"Gonna take a leak." Jack stretched up to his feet, adjusted the waist pistol holster he had taken from the police station and trudged off into the darker parts of the woods. Hiccup watched him carefully, biting his lip to wrestle his growing desire to speak with him.

"Me too!" Hiccup quickly announced, though the others had already diverged into another conversation. Hiccup stumbled to his feet and set off in the same direction Jack had.

This whole infection thing had gotten out of hand quickly. Hiccup recalled the night everything went down in the city. People were already panicking about the infection spreading to the city, to the point people were evacuating and panic buying supplies. The night it hit he and Jack were having their 3rd date in a restaurant. Hiccup was sure that night they were finally going to confess their love for each other or something. It was silly for Hiccup to even think about, but they had already been living together for quite some time, so most things they did do could possibly be described as a date. But usually the others were with them, so it was never really just him and Jack alone. But three times, in a row actually they had gone out or done things just the two of them, Hiccup liked to think they were both just too shy to make the first move, so resorted to hitting on one another in humorous ways. Jack sure did look incredible that night though… then it all went down. Mass rioting and looting near enough destroyed the city as people scrambled everywhere. Hiccup and Jack had just barely managed to meet up with the others and make it out the city into the woodland. At first it was one or two rumours of people getting infected in the city, nothing major. Then the government started the biohazard warnings and locking down the city best they could, that was probably the worst move since it whipped everyone into a panicked frenzy. Then when the infected took to the streets in was a massacre. People were running and screaming everywhere, the infected where running and screaming everywhere. Tuffnut and Astrid had already packed their car trunks with the essential survival kit days ago, so at the expense of ruining their car, they drove into the thick woods and had been there ever since, keeping up with the news of the city via emergency radio. They'd only been back to the city twice, one to check out the government-run refugee camp, and another to pick up more equipment for their journey. Jack had obviously had fun raiding the police station for weapons and weapon holsters, Hiccup was sure he got a kick out of wearing them or something since he hadn't taken it off. Or perhaps he was just scared… he was incredibly protective of Hiccup when they went back into the city.

"Trying to sneak a peek at me huh?" Jack played, stepping out from behind a nearby tree.

"**Fuck!** Jack don't scare me like that." Hiccup exhaled quickly, taking a step backwards.

"Besides, you shouldn't go off alone out here, were supposed to stick together." Hiccup reminded him sternly.

"Aww, _you gonna protect me from the monsters?_" Jack smirked through the dark, fuck Hiccup loved when he did that.  
But no, Hiccup couldn't think about Jack like that anymore, he couldn't stand it if he and Jack got together and something happened… it was too risky.

"How are you so relaxed and laid-back about this Jack?" Hiccup shot a concerned look once Jack's expression dropped. Jack sighed, ruffled his hair and met the shorter boys gaze once more.

"I'm just… trying to keep our spirits up." Jack lied; well perhaps it was the truth… Jack didn't know.  
Hiccup stared into the dark woods toward Jack for much longer than he anticipated. There was just so much he wanted to say and ask, but nothing could find enough courage to publish itself from Hiccup's throat.

"Let's get back…" Jack mumbled, the internal struggle overpowering his ability to even act normal, he wanted nothing more but for this to all be over, so he could go back to his normal life living with the boy of his dreams.

Hiccup nodded silently in confirmation and they both set off back towards the others.

_'Don't do this to yourself Jack.'_ his mind told him over and over again.

Why didn't you just tell Hiccup how you felt years ago, you at least would have had a little while to be with him.

'_No stop it Jack, it's not healthy to obsess over it.'_ His mind tried it's best to wrestle down his arising thoughts. Obsess over it? No, obsess over him. Jack couldn't bear to even think about Hiccup in danger, and that's exactly what he was 24 hours of the day now. Jack had to protect him, Jack couldn't lose him.

'_Why.'_ The question froze Jack all over effortlessly.

'_Why can't you lose him. You've lost everyone already, why not him. Out of all else why do you strive to protect Hiccup.'_

Jack's breathing became heavy as the answer bit and scratched at his subconscious, demanding to be told.

'_**Because you love him.'**_

Jack collapsed his head into his palms, why was he torturing himself?

'_You can't be with him! Not anymore! You'll just lose him and it'll destroy you.'_

'_But it'll destroy you if you do lose him and you never told him how you felt! It's obvious he feels the same!'_

'_No!'_

'_You're a killer Jack. You murder people in cold frozen blood now; he can never love a monster like you.'_

"Jack!" Hiccup almost yelled for the third time, shaking the boy out of his spine-chilling cries.

Jack was bewildered for a second; he had to look around at his surroundings to identify where he was. He was back at the camp site now.

"Why did you just start mumbling to yourself?" Snotlout jabbed the boy cautiously.

"Did…Did I?" Jack questioned slowly, he could have sworn he was just walking with Hicc-

"Yeah, almost like you were gonna break down or something" Fishlegs told him, they were all staring with near-frightened stares.

"Oh… I'm just… tired." Jack rubbed his eyes harshly and stood back up.

"Yeah… um, well okay we do have a long day ahead of us guys, let's get some sleep." Astrid regained herself and stood with Jack to help him get the sleeping bags from the nearby container of equipment.

Deep in the depths of the underworld, a force of darkness swept across the rocky floors to a large reflecting goblet of bloody water. The darkness manifested into its usual jagged form of a man, with pasty grey skin and gleaming yellow eyes, In which watched the bloody water open up a screen; showing a sleeping young white haired boy.

The shadow smiled, that inhuman voice finally erupting the entire hall in which it resided.

"Oh… such a _scared_ boy. Such a **wounded** boy." The shadow chuckled at the thought.

"You… are going to be my _prize possession._" The shadow cast a swift hand over the water, which rippled into Jack's mind.

Jack was sitting, alone and cold… it was snowing. Suddenly he felt a hand appear on his shoulder, he shot his head up to see Hiccup, smiling in that warm affectionate way he used to before the infection. He beckoned Jack to hurry, to catch up with the others. Jack did so, adjusting his backpack as he went forth until they came to a large lake, frozen solid all over. They crossed it seemingly easily, until they reached the end of the lake. Suddenly Jack could feel the ice crack in small parts. He looked to Hiccup, who returned his gaze with a frightened one. Jack tried to help, but in an instant the ice cracked and Hiccup was taken under. Jack could do nothing but watch, until the ice beneath and others gave way too, and they collectively fell to their instant deaths.

The last thing Jack could hear was an eerily dark shadow whisper in an amused tone.

'_Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack forgot to check, to see if the ice was thick.'_ The voice hummed in a sing-song tone, enjoying himself as he watched Jack drown in the icy cold water that filled his lungs.

Once the shadow was done plaguing Jack's dreams, he returned to watching over the kids, a gleeful expression creeping its way onto his face.

"You're all going to become mine… You Jack, are going to lose **everything.**"

The shadow cast a hand to view Hiccup alone.

"Especially… _**him.**_"

"Pitch." A tough voice interrupted him. Pitch swerved around to meet his newest demon, fresh out his cage.

"Ahhh, Jokul, are you ready for your first task?" Pitch asked the demon that stood before him, an exact replica of Jack, though with jet black hair and a concrete look planted on his face.

"Kill them all, bring back the boy. **Easy.**" Jokul scoffed.

"**NO!**" Pitch roared, turning back to look through the goblet.

"You have to make them _suffer_. Kill them, but _one by one._ Make them truly hurt, only then can I take them to be in my collection." Pitch smirked fiercely into the goblet.

"What about Jack. How am I supposed to bring him back without killing him?" Jokul rolled his eyes, he was getting fucking tired of talking.

"When all he cares about is gone, he'll come to** us**." Pitch gave a dark smile to Jokul.

"Jack won't let them go without a fight Jokul… don't underestimate him." Pitch stepped closer and closer to Jokul, he fucking hated it when he did that.

"You, are my finest creation." Pitch continued. "You may be the _Devil of Death_ himself, but he is **Jack The Ripper.** When he's triggered he will rip you to pieces in an instant."

"_Is that admiration I hear in your voice Pitch?_" Jokul raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Perhaps… take the dragon hybrid with you, Toothless. He'll open the portal to the living world." Pitch waved his hand in dismissal, which is all Jokul needed. He immediately set off to find Toothless and get straight up into the living world.

Jack snapped awake in a flash, rushing out of his sleeping bag and toward the nearby bushes to vomit. He had woken up drenched in cold sweat and his mind in shambles over another nightmare. He had already woke Hiccup, who watched with more than concern as Jack threw up violently nearby.

After a quick breakfast, the group strapped up in their gear, separated individual survival kits to each backpack and set off in the general direction of the town.

"How long do you think it'll be until the infected leave the city and start making their way outward?" Tuffnut asked after almost a solid mile of silent walking.

"Eh, as long as were out of here by then, I couldn't give a crap." Snotlout grunted, his bag was the heaviest he was sure.

"Hey Fishlegs, how you doing with that radio?" Hiccup called over, stepping carefully over uprooted plants.

"It's coming along!" Fishlegs replied, trying to fiddle with the radio as he walked. He'd already tripped three times now. He was attempting to tune into Berk's radio station, which he knew was there somewhere. Hopefully there was somebody in the station that they could hear news about Berk from.

"Get down!" Astrid hissed from the front, crouching low behind a nearby tree. The others all scattered to thick tree trunks to hide behind.

"What is it?" Ruffnut whispered, everyone was looking frantically for the danger.

"_Bandits._" Astrid mouthed, before pointing to over the incline of ground that thankfully hid them quite well from two armed men, searching the wreckage of an abandoned car.

Jack made his way forward to the hill Astrid and Ruffnut lay on; he snuck a quick look to the men. They were fully grown, geared up and all. One was armed with a rusty pipe, the other a handgun.

"Let's make our way around." Astrid whispered, but was cut off when Jack grabbed her arm.

"No! We can take these guys, they might have something we could use."

"No Jack! c'mon let's just-"

"**Jack!**" Hiccup hissed as the boy jumped down the incline and swerved behind the nearest tree.

"Did you hear something man?" one bandit asked the other, looking around for the source.

"Eh… probably just an animal or summin… c'mon hurry up with that motor." The other grunted, sitting himself on a nearby tree-stump, his back to Jack and the others as he watched the other man unscrew the car motor.

Jack could tell he was getting out of hand already, that little voice in the back of his mind told him not to start a fight, begged him. But nobody could stop Jack doing what needed to be done, or what demanded to be done. Jack had learnt his stubbornness could cause more than injury long ago.

Now was his chance, whilst the other man was distracted under the hood of the car, Jack crept lowly to the man sitting, and drew out a large knife. Jack knew it had to be quick, these men were twice his size; he'd never win one on one. If the other man heard the struggle, Jack would probably have to shoot him quickly. Was Jack's gun even loaded? He should have checked.

'**Now.**' Jack told himself. In one lightning fast movement he pulled back the bandit's head and plunged the knife _deep_ into his throat. Jack's grip was firm, all his strength went into making sure the fucker died before he let him go; it was clear he had done this before. Unfortunately the man's death was messy, blood gushing like a fountain as he struggled underneath Jack's vice-like grip.

"What the hell!" The other bandit raced from underneath the hood of the car upon hearing the commotion. His hand immediately went for his gun, and Jack panicked furiously, knowing he wouldn't be able to draw his own gun in time, or even hide anywhere from the oncoming gunshots if he could.

"Drop the gun or I'll s-shoot!" Hiccup's shaking voice erupted from the incline behind Jack, pointing his weapon sheepishly to the man. The bandit immediately switched his aim to Hiccup instead. Fuck, what the **hell** was he doing?

"_You fucking shit!_" the bandit yelled, opening fire at Hiccup; the boy just _barely_ managed to dive back down to hide behind the hill. Jack dropped the now limp body to the floor, pulled his weapon from the holster and fired two rounds into the bandit's chest. The man hit the floor with a thud, and suddenly the woods were quiet.

Jack finally clicked. He rushed over, feeling his blind rage build up as he rushed to make sure the fucker was dead. As the bandits hand reached feebly for his weapon, Jack kicked it away and immediately stamped **hard** on the man's nose. There was a crack underneath Jack's trainer, followed by a small whimper of pain. Jack launched his fist into the side of the bandit's face. His face was crazed with his burning ambition to kill the man, he punched _again_, and_ again_ and _again_ and _again_, until blood dripped from his clenched fist and the bandit lay completely still.

Jack stayed on his knees panting for a while, sweat flowed from his face, his chest was tight and his vision still refocusing. He breathed out his adrenalin high, when Astrid and the others slowly made their way to him.

"Jack…" Astrid gulped, she was clearly scared of the boys behaviour.

"Hiccup." Jack exhaled quietly, looking around frantically for the boy, which he located standing away from him cautiously.

"What the **FUCK** was that!?" Jack exploded into a fit of rage. He stomped over to Hiccup and gripped the boy by the collar with both blood stained hands.

Hiccup seemed to be far too in shock to even push the boy away.

"Why would you put yourself in danger like that Hiccup!?" Jack shook the boy harshly.

"Jack calm down!" Ruffnut pushed him firmly from Hiccup. Jack looked as if he were about to retaliate when Tuffnut placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hiccup freaking saved you there man, chill out." Tuffnut reassured him

Jack took another look at Hiccup, it seems his actions had done nothing but frighten him. Fishlegs looked almost tired, he stood still over one of the bodies, which Snotlout begun to search.

"Look," Jack sighed, taking another step towards Hiccup. "You are many things Hiccup… but a killer is not one of them." Jack firmly stated to the boy.

"You don't need to freaking protect me Jack; I can fucking take care of myself." Hiccup finally shot back, not making eye contact with Jack anymore. Jack seemed hurt by the statement, almost shocked Hiccup would say such a thing.

Jokul watched from a nearby tree, smiling at their already broken group.

"Their being awfully loud don't you think Toothless?" He grinned to his silent companion, a human/dragon hybrid, tail delicately swaying in amusement.

"_The dead have ears my friends._" Jokul chuckled, before flying away in one swift movement.

An ear piercing screech erupted from the soft summer air, sending everyone to a grinding halt. A single disease-ridden woman, appeared at the incline, screaming again at the sight of her targets She performed an inhuman leap down to them, landing directly on top of Snotlout.

"**Infected!**" Snotlout shouted, as the woman frantically struggled against his strength. She snapped her jaws menacingly, desperate to tear his flesh apart.

Astrid rushed over, and swiped her foot straight into the side of the infected head. Snotlout pushed the limp body off to the side and scrambled to his feet.

There was another approaching, others could be heard not too far either. Ruffnut swiped up the bandit's handgun; Tuffnut the bandit's pipe. Fishlegs took off in the opposite direction, and the others were quick to follow, each running off one after the other. Hiccup took a quick look back to see a thick hoard of undead bodies all hobbling and running after them viciously. Some stopped to feast on the bandits, but others kept running at the bigger prize.

"Fuck Fuck! Run!" Tuffnut cried, his backpack contents could be heard ruffling around as he kept up the speed, never had he sounded so scared. Astrid was second, her gun already drawn. Jack stayed at the back, mostly to keep an eye on Hiccup who ran before him. Jack could have sworn the woods was getting colder, though he couldn't be sure, his lungs were burning, but he never stopped running; only when they seemed to have got a fair distance from the screeching infected did they finally stop.

"Holy crap, As-… Astrid what were-" Was all Jack could manage inbetween pants.

"They must- have left- the city-" Astrid huffed. She fell to one knee and allowed her bag to slip off her back, which she rummaged in to find a bottle of rationed water.

"**Guys!**" Fishlegs interrupted, they all looked quickly to catch sight of _snow?_ The forest separated completely, from the last patch of leaf-covered ground, to a thick blanket of snow that covered the rest of the forest. Trees were frozen over, the ground was complete snow and the temperature had plummeted from mid-summer heat to _chilling cold._

"What the hell? How is that possible?" Snotlout looked more bewildered then them all, as he approached the white crystallised liquid cautiously.

"You've gotta be kiddin me." Jack mumbled to himself. What the hell was going on?

They sat panting for a while, all mesmerised by the sudden snowy background.

"I knew I should have brought my mittens" Hiccup sighed. Jack turned his head slightly to look to Hiccup; who he was sure was gazing at him as well before quickly turning away. Jack felt horrid about shouting at him, it was true, Hiccup did save him back there; and Jack was cruel to him. Out here, there was no hesitating. There might not even be a next time to speak; so Jack nudged him lightly with his fingers.

"Hiccup listen… I-"

Another screech boomed from not far, sending them all into a panicked frenzy.

"No time! Run!" Astrid quickly put back on her bag, and off they bounced from the ground and sprinted further into the out of place winter wonderland. Jack was annoyed he couldn't finish, though Hiccup did seem to stick much closer to him this time than before, perhaps which was a good sign?

Jack got a nauseous feeling as they jogged further into this place. The snow wasn't natural; that much was obvious. Though there was something here, something **evil** in fact…_ almost watching them._

"It's a lake!" Ruffnut pointed out, coming to a stop first at the frozen water.

"What!?" Jack gasped at the sight, he knew this lake from somewhere.

"**No**… we need to go around!" Jack begged them all.

"Astrid! Infected!" Fishlegs cried, seeing the flesh eaters begun to burst from the distant tree's.

"No time!" Snotlout yelled, and immediately set out jogging over the lake. Ruffnut was next, then Tuffnut, Jack, Fishlegs and Hiccup.

"Quickly guys quickly!" Astrid pressed, Jack near to having a panic attack at this scene. He had a feeling, no a premonition, about what was going to happen.

They reached the center of the lake; Jack had his toes curled anxiously, he was wide-eyed and near to having a panic attack as his mind tortured him.

"It's fucking cold!" Ruffnut moaned, they were nearing the other side now, it was going okay.

"Did someone just hear a crack!? Snotlout called in a warning tone.

Jack begun to panic, he had to-do something. Anything.

"_Hiccup stay close!_" Jack turned to the boy best be could manage. Hiccup looked up from the ice to Jack, the boy looked so worried Hiccup wanted nothing more but to hug him there and then. They reached the other side, to Jack's surprise. They all stepped off the Ice with a small jump, until finally Hiccup got off the ice. Jack collapsed into the snow, Hiccup stood before him panting, before he dropped his bag on the cold floor. The infected on the other side didn't have the proper balance or coordination to move across the slippery ice, and ended up in a big mess trying to reach them. Hiccup watched Jack for a minute, contemplating on what he should say.

They calmed themselves as the atmosphere unclenched; the breeze swept through this strange forest and quieted most things, allowing them all to regain themselves once more.

"We should keep moving-" Astrid was cut off, when the ice behind them snapped open, and cold blue dead arms sprouted from the water. Before anybody could react one grasped Hiccup's leg, one grabbed Fishlegs hand and pulled them both in the dark water. It was like slow motion, Jack's heart thumped and pounded against his chest, and before his brain could remind him that water could kill him, Jack went after him.

"**HICCUP!**" Jack screamed, he didn't even think he just shed his bag and dived straight in, followed by Astrid.  
Jack couldn't see anything, but a single silhouette of Hiccup before him, being dragged down deeper into the dark.

Jack swam and swam as quickly as forcibly as he could, but he couldn't reach them. Jack could already feel the icy cold numb his very exterior. Hiccup struggled violently under the grip of the corpse, the weight of the water made it almost impossible; though he did finally break free, suffering a terrible injury sometime in the struggle. Hiccup paid no mind to the injury for the moment; he couldn't feel much in this sub-zero water anyway.

Hiccup kicked away from the corpse best he could, Jack gripped him tightly at the wrist and begun to swim in the opposite direction, back to the surface. Hiccup could barely keep consciousness at the feeling of pure ice seeping into his very skin and body.

Jack gasped audibly when he broke through to the surface, carrying Hiccup awkwardly to make sure he could breathe as he paddled his way back to the edge. Tuffnut and Ruffnut fought off the few infected that resided on this side of the lake. Tuffnut readied his pipe as the zombie edged closer; like a batter waiting for the right time to hit the ball. Ruffnut fired a round into another infected torso, and Tuffnut took the swing; knocking the body straight down to the floor. Snotlout was the one who helped Jack and Hiccup out the lake.

"Astrid was already back, rushing back soaking wet to help Snotlout carry Hiccup.

"Wheres Fish-"

"I couldn't save him!" Astrid cried, shaking her head violently, or perhaps that was her terrible shivering. Jack's teeth were chattering themselves, and Hiccup had all but lost consciousness.

"There's a cabin down there look!" Ruffnut pointed out, in the direction over the snowy hill Jack couldn't concentrate on just yet.

"Quick grab the stuff!" Astrid called, wobbling awkwardly as she aided Snotlout in carrying his cousin to safety. Even though the infected's maddened roars came from the other side of the lake, it still sent shivers of fear into their bodies. Jack picked up both his and Hiccup's bags, and ran best he could in-between Ruff and Tuff after the others.

"_One down._" Jokul grinned to himself.

Toothless swung from his tail to Jokul's tree with ease; sitting himself hunched over next to him.

"The 'Hiccup' boy is infected. He'll be dead soon enough." Toothless informed Jokul.

"Eh, not was I was hoping for, but it'll do I suppose." Jokul yawned, making himself more comfortable watching the other's struggle, watching Hiccup especially.

Hiccup begun to stir awake, his vision faded in and out periodically. He felt sick, really sick. He could make out the low crackle of fire, and the warm glow.

Then he felt arms on him, pulling him out from somewhere.

"C'mon… we have to go now Hiccup… before the others get back." Snotlout grunted. Hiccup was pulled out the door of the cabin and into the freezing snow. Snotlout pulled him to his feet and there Hiccup stood regaining his sight again. Snotlout aided him in walking, off away from the cabin. Only when they were a good distance away, with the cabin just barely in sight did they stop.

"Snotlout… what are we doing?" Hiccup asked, his head was still rolling on his shoulders when he tried to look around.

"Where's Jack?" Hiccup asked, Snotlout ignored him once more.

Hiccup took a few deep breaths and regained himself. He pushed Snotlout from his person with difficulty.

"_Snotlout!_" Hiccup warned, taking a few steps back.

"The others have gone out looking for firewood!" Snotlout finally answered him. Hiccup's head had stopped spinning at least, he became more and more aware of his surroundings.

"Why are we out here then?" Hiccup questioned, rolling his neck and fluttering his eyes to shake off the sleep.

"Because we're not going back. It's easier to go while the others don't know." Snotlout picked Hiccup up once again, though he was sure he could walk on his own now.

"What do you, mean!" Hiccup pushed him away again.

"You're infected Hiccup!" Snotlout shouted louder than he was supposed to.

Hiccup gaped at him for a second in disbelief.

"Your arm! Check it!" Snotlout nodded his head to Hiccups right arm, it had been cleaned of blood and a bandage wrapped tightly around the top of his forearm.

"The other's don't know… but I do. We can't stay here!" Snotlout went back to pick Hiccup up, though he stopped mid-way with a sudden spell of shakes.

"Snotlout?" Hiccup gasped, falling by his cousin's side to help. Hiccup didn't know what to-do, what could he do. What was going to happen to him, to both of them?

"Urghh!" Snotlout grunted once more; he drew out his weapon and pointed it to Hiccup without looking properly.

"Whoa Snotlout calm down!" Hiccup began to panic, what was he doing.

"I'm sorry Hiccup." Snotlout exhaled slow and steady, trying to overcome the internal pain he felt gripping its way around his chest and squeeze his insides.

"Snotlout! _You're infected_." Hiccup gasped as he caught sight of it; a large bite mark on his neck surrounded by dead skin and decayed looking flesh around the bite. It must have been when that infected jumped on top of him.

"We **both** need to go Hiccup" Snotlout repeated himself, straightening himself up now again.

"Snotlout wait!" Hiccup pleaded, but the boy was determined to protect his friends from himself and his cousin.

Snotlout raised the gun again, and Hiccup was stuck on what to do. Snotlout was right, they were both infected and they were dangerous to be around the others. Hiccup was considering letting Snotlout just pull the trigger, but something inside him refused, panicked and overthrew his movement controls. His brain went into autopilot survival mode, he rammed Snotlout best he could with his shoulder. Snotlout in his weakened state fell to the floor; Hiccup just barely managed to snatch the handgun from his fingers, rearrange the handle and fired one shot towards the downed boy. Hiccup hadn't even looked, his eyes were tightly shut and legs paralysed in fear.

Only when he slowly opened his eyes did green orbs widen at the sight; he had shot Snotlout dead in an instant. His cousin lay still, almost as if he were sleeping; blood beginning to stain the pure snow he lay on. Hiccup gasped, he wretched a few times as if he were about to puke. What had he done, he'd just killed someone, _his cousin in fact._ Hiccup felt his vision begin to smear with liquid forming at his eyes.

"It came from over here!" Astrid called, running around the cabin to catch sight of Hiccup not far up. Was that a body next to him?

"Hiccup!" Jack screamed, he didn't care about the infected hearing; he pushed past the others and sprinted as quickly as possible to the boy. Once he reached him immediately his arms flung around Hiccup; who buried himself into Jack's clothing and held as tightly as possible. Hiccup was shaking violently, silently crying in-between sharp inhales of air.

Astrid lost herself at the sight of Snotlout, she dropped to his side silently.

"H-He tried to-" Hiccup sobbed uncontrollably, his head ached beyond belief.  
Jack sighed deeply and coaxed Hiccup back into a tight embrace, he understood. He was worried Snotlout saw Hiccup's bite when he first bandaged it up.

"Ha, we barely need to be here! They're killing _each other_ down there!" Jokul giggled, the scene he had just witnessed was hilarious to watch.

"The boy is just full of surprises isn't he?" Jokul smiled maliciously to Toothless, the dragon watched the auburn hair boy more than intrigued.

Back in the cabin, the fire roared high to warm them all. They had been sitting in silence for a while now. Hiccup sat with his back pressed against Jack's chest, in-between his legs simply enjoying the comfortable feeling of Jack's breathing. The weather outside was bitterly cold, something was definitely unnaturally causing this, though Hiccup had no time to ponder on such a mystery. Snotlout had been bitten 20 minutes before Hiccup had, which is around the time Hiccup had spent in Jacks lap. It was time.

Astrid sat alone on the uncomfortable wooden chair by the fire, in deep thought so it would appear. She remembered her childhood; her all to frequent mischievous adventures with Hiccup. Those two were always getting themselves into trouble on some corner of Berk or another, especially at the caves on the far side.

Astrid smiled as the heating fire soothed her eyes. Astrid remembered vividly how when their families went on Holiday to a place here on the mainland the two would go off causing trouble at wherever they were staying. Astrid never really wondered why the two were so damn troublesome, though they were fun times, happier times.

"Astrid… I need to go…" Hiccup spoke quietly to the girl; she had been silent for a while. Just at the very sound of her name she rushed over to Hiccup as he stood from Jack's embrace. The girl wrapped Hiccup tightly in a hug before near enough breaking down.

"Hiccup you're such an idiot!" She sniffed as he held him close. When she finally let go, Hiccup smiled as best he could at her, somehow knowing he was going to die calmed him, in a strange way.

"Hiccup uh… the rooms ready." Tuffnut coughed; coming out of the bedroom he had just finished preparing. Hiccup was to go into the room alone, and the others would block the doorway. Hiccup approached the door and took a look inside. Everyone crowded around the door as he took his first steps into the room his life would end in. Tuffnut had left a single pistol on the bed with one bullet in the clip, in case Hiccup wanted to…

"First Fishlegs… then Snot and _now Hiccup?_ Fuck this is so messed up" Ruffnut sighed, stepping away, she had to admit the whole ordeal was overwhelming.

Jack watched with eyes so pained it sent needles into Hiccup's heart. Jack wanted to run into the room, to hug Hiccup and never let go, to kiss him gently but fiercely and to express all the bottled up feelings he had. However, he knew it would do no good. It wasn't fair to either of them, so he retrained himself to a regretful look of sorrow. Hiccup and Jack watched each other's eyes until Astrid and Tuffnut closed the door slowly. They pushed a lone bookcase along the floor to block the door afterward, and just like that Hiccup was gone.

Jack was lost on what to do with himself after that, all of them seemed to just wander and look around. Nothing felt right; Jack couldn't cope knowing the love of his life was sitting in the next room over, losing his mind. Jack spent the rest of the night waiting on edge, anxious to hear a gunshot go off… or not.

Jack lay still, as close to the wall separating him and Hiccup as possible. He lay with a hollow feeling eating its way through his chest. Knowing full well when he awoke the next morning Hiccup would be gone.

The next day seemed to click into place with a single blink. Jack felt as if he hadn't slept at all, only when he blinked a few times at the brightness seeping in through the window did he shoot up straight. Everyone was asleep, it was quiet. Jack pulled himself up from the floor, grabbed his handgun from the table and came to a stop in front of the bookcase that blocked the door. Jack pulled at the bookcase until he fell and hit the floor with a huge thud, waking everyone instantly. Jack didn't care, he needed to see Hiccup, or what's left of Hiccup.

"Jack!" Astrid called, scrambling out of her own sleeping bag and pulling out her handgun. Tuffnut and Ruffnut armed themselves too, as Jack slowly opened the door. For a moment it looked as if nobody was in there, but suddenly he caught sight of a body lying curled up on the bed. The gun had been thrown to the other side of the room, unused.

Jack edged closer and closer to the body, slowly extending a hand to rest on his shoulder. Jack could feel a lump arise in his throat at the anticipation of what he was about to see. Jack rolled Hiccup onto his back, to reveal the boy… was sleeping.

"Hiccup!?" Jack gasped, prodded the boy some more.

"Ughh…. Jack I swear to god I will murder you, what time is it?" Hiccup grumbled tiredly.

"Hiccup!" Astrid cried out, a smile breaking out underneath her watering eyes.

Jack already begun to cry embarrassingly as he pulled the boy up into a tight hug.

"Toothless!" Jokul spat, joining the hybrid sitting on a branch not far from the cabin.

"What's going on?" Jokul demanded, Toothless barely regarding his presence.

"The Hiccup boy?" the hybrid asked, obviously amused by Jokul's temper.

"Yes the Hiccup boy you fucking moron, why isn't he dead yet!?"

Toothless scoffed, and returned his gaze into the window, where he could see Jack unwrapping Hiccup's bandage on his arm. The bite held no dead or rotting flesh, in fact it looked as if it was healing.

"The boy is immune to the infection." Toothless laughed to himself; _this boy really was full of surprises._

"Stay close!" Astrid called to the group as they made their way out of the snowy background and back into the normal summer atmosphere.

"That was the strangest weather change I've ever been through." Tuffnut sighed, jogging on the spot slightly to warm up.

"_Global warming_ guys, I'm telling you" Ruffnut commented.

"I think global warming is the least of our worries right now don't you think?" Hiccup called back to the twins. Jack smiled at him from beside his person; the first genuine smile Jack had pulled for a long time. They're spirits seemed collectively higher since this morning; it was tough living down their friend's deaths, honestly Hiccup was sure it simply hadn't hit them yet. A twinge of pain could be felt each time they looked around for the friends that were no longer here, but hopes had to be kept high, otherwise they wouldn't stand a chance.

"How far until the next town?" Jack asked, standing up from the ground and pulling his bag back on.

"Not far, just a few minutes from here actually" Astrid told them all as she herself stood from the ground. She was excited; it should be plain sailing from here.

Astrid walked at the back of the group; deep in thought about the past days. Honestly everything had happened so fast, all the days seemed to blend into one long nightmare. Astrid was sure every time she went to sleep she'd wake up and this would have all been a dream. Hiccup and Jack held smiles at each other as they walked; Jack was being his usual predatory self again. Hiccup brushed off Jack's hand with a mock stern tone. There was obviously something there in between those two; Astrid would have to ask Hiccup how they were getting on. Not very good she supposed, since they had an apocalypse threatening to separate them every minute. Yet they kept those smiles… impressive.

Astrid sighed; her bag was becoming heavy now, along with her conscience. She should have been able to save Fishlegs if Jack could save Hiccup… but Jack… wasn't himself.

Astrid had only seen Jack kill someone twice; once back in the city when an infected attacked Tuffnut and the other with those two bandits. Jack turned almost _**animalistic**_ back then, he murdered both of them as if he'd done it a thousand times… all to protect Hiccup. Jack had been in a state of complete blind rage back then; he was actually really scary to think about.

"Dudes, the town!" Ruffnut called back to the others, pointing out the distant clomp of small buildings through the trees. They rushed forward closer and closer, until the twins at the front stopped the progress.

"Guy's I think there are people in that town…" Tuffnut squinted to better see the streets.

"Infected?" Astrid asked, joining them at the front.

"No… they don't look like bandits either."

"How can you tell?" Jack raised an eyebrow, joining the slow walk forward.

"There's women and children… they look like survivors." Tuffnut continued. Hiccup could hear the children running around from here.

"What do we do?" Ruffnut looked to Astrid, who returned her stare with an equally unsure one.

"…Let's go talk to them I guess."

"Whoa! Dad!" A young boy called at the sight of strangers appearing from the forest.

Some children scrambled inside tents and buildings, three men ran out from the area, armed with heavy weapons.

"Hey! Hold it right there!" A burly man stepped forth before the group, pointing a long shotgun to their persons. The girl at the front drew a pistol from her holster and aimed it right back.

"Who are you?" The man asked, cautious of the others who readied themselves.

"Look we just want to talk" Astrid tried to sooth her voice from being demanding, the more she looked around the small town she could tell these people were scared.

"Are you bandit's?" another man appeared from behind a truck, hand pointing another handgun directly at Jack.

"Could ask you guys the same thing." Jack shot back, people pointing weapons at him sent him on edge.

"Mark!" A woman's voice came from the tent, a short, Caucasian, bushy haired lady stomped out hurriedly.

"What's this about!?" She looked from her husband to the group he took aim at.

"Go back inside Selma." Mark tried to pat the woman away but she refused, catching sight of the faces in the group.

"Mark these are just kids!"

"I said go back inside!"

"**Mark Quorum you listen to me!**" Selma scorned the man fiercely, her finger raised like a mother telling off a child.

"You lower your gun away from these kids _**this instant!**_" she commanded; with Mark reluctantly complying.

"Look at them Mark," Selma turned her attention back to Astrid and the others.

"They're just children, they obviously need help." Selma approached Astrid, who returned her weapon to the holster.

"Are you alright dears?" Selma softened her voice, approaching them all with a weak smile.

"Uh.. Yeah… we um, we need some help getting somewhere." Ruffnut spoke from beside Astrid, the men were still glaring intensely.

"Oh, come inside dears, it'll be dark soon. We'll sort you out now, c'mon" Selma warmly accepted the group into the town, and pointed them in the direction of the largest building. They walked sheepishly into the town, it seemed safe enough.

The town sure enough was inhabited by a small group of survivors; 5 men, 3 women and 5 children. Jack supposed the rest of the town had died due to infection, or at the claws of it.

The townsfolk were nice enough to give them food and drink, Jack even got a change of clothes from his blood stained ones. Jack was inside one of the tents, just finished changing when Hiccup walked in.

"Hey." Hiccup greeted, walking to Jack at the far side. The tent was dark apart from a single illuminating lantern.

"Hiccup… why aren't you in the main hall?" Jack asked the boy wearily.

The main hall, Selma tells them is where all the survivors stay at night. Sometimes the electric worked and they could turn on the light inside without it attracting anything lurking in the woods. They had boarded up the windows and doors so people could talk freely and lanterns could be lit without any light or sound escaping the place.

"I uh, wanted to speak to you… one of the kids told me you went off to change." Hiccup sat on the low fold out bed someone had placed here.

"Trying to sneak another peek at me? Sheesh Hiccup if you want to see me naked you could just ask." Jack chuckled, sitting next to Hiccup best he could.

"Hah, you wish Frost. Besides if you remember rightly I've already seen you naked and I wasn't impressed." Hiccup scoffed out. Funnily enough Hiccup felt more safe out here then he did in the fortified main hall.

"Oh yeah…" Jack got closer to Hiccup, which was easy enough since they were lying on a single bed.

Those times were much simpler, when Jack and Hiccup lived together in Berk.

"_Actually,_ we never lived together; you were _supposed_ to be a lodger." Hiccup reminded Jack as they made their way back into the main hall.

"But _we did_ live under the same roof." Jack defended himself, taking a seat with his back against the wall beside Hiccup, in the main hall now where everybody talked.

Jack had first came to Berk as a lodger, meaning he was supposed to stay there in the night and go out and do whatever he needed to-do. Usually lodgers didn't last long in places, but Jack stayed there almost a month in Stoick's spare room.

"Never missed a rent payment tough." Jack reminded Hiccup, sharing a bottle of water Selma had handed them.

"Ah, but you were never supposed to leave your room apart from exiting the house. As I recall you'd sneak into my room at night." Hiccup reminisced with him.

"You enjoyed my company though! In fact one time you came into my room!"

"_**You took my pillows!**_" Hiccup nudged him accusingly.

"You just wanted to sleep with me don't lie."

"And then when my dad went out to work and I was home alone you'd bug me all day!" Hiccup sighed.

"Actually, we would spend romantic days together at home!" Jack exaggerated. Sitting with Hiccup trying to snuggle into him whilst they watched movies on the sofa wasn't exactly a romantic day together.

"I actually still remember the day I left, you looked _heartbroken!_" Jack giggled. "You ran into my room all excited because you managed to get my favourite DVD, and when you saw my suitcase you looked like you were gonna cry." Jack remembered Hiccup's adorable face well.

Hiccup blushed a deep red at that memory.

"Well uh… where did you go anyway?" Hiccup asked him.

"Uhh… around the country… ended up seeing a house advertised in the paper back in the mainland, it was small, affordable and where was it? On Berk Island, right next to yours." Jack smiled at Hiccup.

"Is that why you came back to Berk?" Hiccup asked Jack, more serious than playful now.

"Hiccup… there were **plenty** of places easier to live in I could have bought… I came back to Berk because I missed seeing your stupid face." Jack nuzzled the boy, Hiccup's heart jumped due to thinking Jack was going to kiss him for a moment.

They stayed in close proximity to each other for a while, each yearning to close the small gap between them.

"My dad was always suspicious y'know" Hiccup laughed absent minded.

"Suddenly I was spending all my time at your house, he even said it's like you've _'moved in together'_" Hiccup chuckled half-heartedly.

"And then a few years later, were living together in an apartment in the city." Jack finished, caught up on the memories they had shared. His best being when Hiccup fell asleep in December in Jack's bed. After staying up all night watching cheesy Christmas films and eating junk food, and Jack got to hold Hiccup as they slept. Hiccup near enough kicked Jack out the bed in the morning when he realised, but it was still worth it. Jack found himself grinning stupidly.

"And now we're here." Hiccup huffed quietly, looking around the near empty hall.

"Yeah…" Jack joined him, placing his head of white hair on Hiccup's shoulder affectionately.

Hiccup allowed Jack to-do so and eventually rested his own against Jack's weight.

"Jack… don't you ever get scared of this?" Hiccup near enough whispered.

"What do you mean?" Jack muttered a reply.

"You seem so accustom to dealing with this stuff… aren't you afraid of anything?"

"Well… yeah. I'm afraid of Astrid."

Hiccup chuckled lightly before Jack continued.

"I'm afraid of killing people…" Jack admitted, Hiccup was silently anxious to hear him evaluate further.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna start to enjoy it when I kill people… or even worse, I'm gonna start feeling nothing."

Hiccup sighed slightly, not knowing which approach he should use to deal with such a statement.

"Jack… you're not a killer… I know you're finding this hard to believe but you've protected us, protected me especially… you're actually _more like a guardian._"

Jack nuzzled further into Hiccup, his mind becoming as heavy as his heart.

"I'm afraid of losing you." Jack exhaled slowly and deeply, Hiccup began to play with his hair delicately.

"I'm not going anywhere Jack…" Hiccup's last words escaped his lips, he wasn't even sure if Jack heard them, the lulling embrace had added weight to his eyelids he couldn't withstand. The two drifted into sleep in their warm presence.

Loud crashing, screaming and shouting are what woke them both. Astrid rushed over to the two and shook them awake.

"**GET UP!**" she looked around frantically, the kids were screaming and being ushered away into the corners of the room for safety.

"What's happening!?" Jack looked around, Hiccup doing the same.

"Something attacked us! Just now!" Selma informed them, wobbling overlooking clearly distraught.

"What happened?" Hiccup grasped the woman supportively.

"There w-was a noise… a noise outside and Mark went to s-see." Selma breathed heavily.

"Then this thing, came o-outta nowhere and j-just tore M-Mark apar-" Selma had to stop to sob silently in grief.

"**YOU!**" another man stomped in, drawing his gun and pointing in directly at Jack.

"Cyrus!" Selma gasped, trying to push the man away but he was determined to stay.

"It was you!" he grunted, raising the gun to Jack's person. Hiccup stepped in the way immediately.

"Cyrus what are you talking abo-"

"**That** little **fucker** just killed Ray, Mark and Bill!" Cyrus tightened the grip on his pistol, he was crazed on his intent to shoot.

"**CYRUS!**" Selma practically screamed to get his attention.

"Jack's been in here the whole time!" Astrid shot out quickly.

"It's true Cyrus! He has, nobodies been out or in except for the others!" Selma pleaded with the man, who looked dead sure on the verge on clicking. Cyrus breathed deeply and heavily, not breaking eye contact with Jack.

"Get out." Cyrus demanded.

"No! Cyrus no!" Selma pushed the man best she could, but he gripped her tightly and threw her aside.

"Get out of my town **NOW**."

"Cyrus you can't just throw them out!" Selma still fiercely argued, Hiccup stayed firm in-between the man and Jack.

"_Fuck this._" Astrid sighed, and launched her foot straight into the man's scrotum. Cyrus wretched forward in pain, Tuffnut whipped right in and took the gun from his hands.

"The truck, outside." Astrid demanded, pointing her gun from Cyrus to the other man not far from the scene.

"**The keys!**" Astrid demanded around the room, the others quickly scrambled up their belongings and stayed close to Astrid with their weapons drawn.

"H-Here!" the other man threw a set of keys on the ground at Astrid's feet. Cyrus glared hatefully from the ground, and Ruffnut picked the keys up with haste.

"Selma, thank you for everything." Hiccup thanked the woman, who looked as if she wanted to argue with their departure.

"Oh… please kids, be safe!" Selma called after them, as one by one they jogged out the door and toward the large truck not far from there.

"Dude Astrid is totally _hard-core._" Ruffnut whispered.

Jack, Hiccup and Tuffnut climbed into the back of the truck, Astrid and Ruffnut climbed into the cab. Astrid started the truck up and sped from the town, onto the road that would take them outward toward the main motorway.

"We took care of them." Jokul informed Pitch, back inside the deep dank underworld.

"You didn't kill **everyone** there." Pitch reminded him of his original orders.

"There were _children_ in the hall." Jokul spat back. Even as a demon the boy did have standards about who he killed.

"I don't care Jokul!" Pitch snapped, warping straight to the boy. He immediately regained himself and returned to his usual slimy calm tone.

"I want them gone, and I want Hiccup and Jack here."

"Those two aren't easy to break Pitch, it'll take a while."

"I don't care." Pitch repeated, an aggressive tone in his voice.

"Hmf, whatever pitchy. How's the first two coming along?"

"Just fine, seems the Snotlout boy is giving the hounds a bit of a fight, but we'll break him soon."

Astrid had been driving all through morning; her eyes were underlined with deep black bags. Ruffnut was next to her asleep. In the back, Hiccup, Tuffnut and Jack slept through Astrid's dodgy driving as best they could. The motorway was empty, deserted completely apart from a few abandoned isolated cars.

A thud boomed from the roof of the vehicle, awakening them all.

"Why's it **every time** I try and sleep-" Jack complained

"Shh…" Tuffnut told him, staring up as if he could see through the metal roof.

"You guys okay back there?" Astrid called; Ruffnut could be heard yawning from the cab.

The back doors of the truck were ripped open with force, revealing a demonic hybrid head upside-down staring in from the roof.

"_**No we're not!**_" Hiccup called, reaching for his gun. Jack almost shot the creature, though it quickly snapped it's head back up. Astrid sped up the truck, which wasn't the best idea since they all almost went flying out the open doors Tuffnut gripped tightly onto one of the cargo straps, on the other side Jack did the same, holding tightly onto Hiccup's wrist before he flew from the truck. Hiccup's free hand scraped along the floor and side of the truck, desperate to catch a hold on something.

The creature slammed back down onto the motorway, and for a second they thought they were safe. Then the creature took off after the truck, running on all fours like a beast.

"Astrid drive **faster!**" Tuffnut cried, taking out his gun and trying to aim it to the fast approaching creature, the thing was menacing. Astrid complied, looking into her mirrors to see glimpses of a strange animal like hybrid sprinting after them.

"**Astrid!**" Ruffnut cried out in warning, Astrid snapped her head forward to see Jack standing in the middle of the road, a smug grin planted on his face.

Astrid swerved the truck left, and avoiding hitting him and then right again, trying to rebalance the vehicle. The motion jerked everyone, none more than

Tuffnut who lost his grip on the strap and bolted forward. The creature chasing them took its chance, and leaped forward. In a glimpse, the creature extended huge fangs and claws from its body, and _plunged them_ straight into Tuffnut's person. In a snap it closed itself all around Tuffnut, and Hiccup couldn't do a thing.

Astrid swerved again and again, this time Jack lost his grip with a loud shout. Astrid slammed on the breaks, and the truck launched from its wheels, and crashed out with many twists and flips. Around and around the truck flipped; all Hiccup could remember was feeling smashing pains on his back, then chest, then back and then head, then all over, until finally they grinded to a halt in a smoking wreckage.

Jokul watched from afar, smiling at his handiwork prior to Toothless joining him; the demon retracted it's blood soaked fangs and claws back into itself with pride.

"Two down?" Jokul turned to Toothless as the hybrid nodded a single time.

'Hiccup' a muffled voice rung in Hiccup's ears.

'Hiccup!' The voice echoed again, slowly but surely becoming louder.

"_**Hiccup!**_" Jack shook the boy once more, his eyes fluttering open. Jack's face came into view, dirtied and cut up, same as Hiccup's by the feel of it.

"You look like shit." Hiccup winced in pain as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Better than _you do_." Jack exhaled back.

"Where's the other's?" Hiccup looked around the deserted motorway.

"Astrid… just got rid of Ruffnut's body."

"**Ruffnut!?**" Hiccup needed not to question that dark expression on Jack's face. The white haired boy nodded slowly, and swallowed a lump in his throat.

Then there was Tuffnut… and that creature… _what was that?_

"Did you **see** that thing that got Tuff?" Hiccup spoke more carefully than before.

"Yeah… and apparently Astrid crashed because she thought she saw _**me**_ in the middle of the road."

"_Again?_" Hiccup furrowed his brow. "First that Cyrus guy in that town and now-"

"I know." Jack interrupted, sighing deeply, eyes watching the burning wreckage of the truck.

"Hey, you're awake." Astrid softly spoke; Hiccup looked up to see Astrid carrying both her and Ruffnut's backpacks. Her eyes were swollen though her voice was sweet, she'd clearly been crying.

"Astrid… you look the worst of _all of us._" Hiccup did his best to manage a smile. Astrid appreciated the attempt and returned his hollow smile.

"Look, over there." Astrid pointed out; Hiccup stumbled to his feet and took a look at the view. In sight was the ocean, and more importantly a docking port for ships and boats could just be seen.

"Port… we can get to Berk from there." Hiccup remembered this port station well.

"What about the truck? That thing's blocking our path down this motorway." Jack pointed out, seeing no way to even climb over the burning truck. The motorway was a good height up from the ground floor, there was no way they could jump down.

"Uh… there was to be some way." Astrid muttered, the three spread out to look for a way past. After a little while of searching Jack called them over.

"We're gonna have to hang off the side of the motorway and shimmy our way past." Jack threw up his hands in defeat.

"What? _Are you insane?_" Hiccup looked bewildered towards the boy.

"He's right, it's our only option." Astrid agreed, and near enough jumped straight off the motorway. She hung on tightly with two hands on the very edge, dangling from the thousand feet drop seemingly unafraid. She began to shimmy her way across, one hand after the other. Jack was next and Hiccup become more than mortified at what he was being asked to-do.

"_I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die._" Hiccup repeated to himself, stepping off the concrete feebly. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea, only when all three of them hung did they realise the impact on their limbs that crash had on them.

"Look Hiccup, I'm right here!" Jack attempted to reassure him, but he was far to absorbed by the sight of how high up he was, Astrid had just made it to the other side.

"You need to move Hiccup c'mon!" Jack begun to grunt, his backpack was damn heavy.  
Hiccup moved quickly, out of fear above all else, eyes fixed on his hands and gripping tightly to take him away from the fact he was dangling above his certain doom.

"Okay!" Jack breathed, climbing up past the Truck.

"I'll pull you up!" Jack called to Hiccup as he approached the space in which he could finally get up from hanging.

"Jack my arms are hurting here!"

"You're almost there c'mon!" Jack encouraged. It appeared to work for Hiccup, who held a gaze with Jack that allowed him to bypass the tiredness and make it past the truck. Astrid and Jack helped him up back onto the motorway, on which Hiccup collapsed.

"Ughh, how do action movie stars do that like every minute?!" Hiccup moaned simply glad to be on solid ground once more.

"I'm pretty sure they have manly muscles and shit." Astrid breathed out in relief.

"_Yeah like me!_" Jack interjected, seeing an opportunity to raise their spirits.

"How long until this motorway hit's that port?" Hiccup asked them both, disregarding Jacks comment.

"On foot? I'd give it 30 minutes of solid walking." Astrid nodded, eyes focusing on the port just visible on the horizon.

"Let's get a move on then I suppose." Jack sighed, helping Hiccup up off the ground.

"Why don't you just carry me _Mr Muscly Manly Man_" Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"**Jaack!**" Hiccup gasped as Jack literally picked up the smaller boy bridal style.

"Anything for you my princess!" Jack mocked an exaggerated heroic tone and jogged off with Hiccup bobbing in his arms, complaining to be let down. Jack took any opportunity they had; he knew if they were weighed down with guilt and sorrow, they wouldn't stand a chance… or perhaps Jack just didn't care as much? No, no Jack did care; he just knew they had to keep looking forward is all. Astrid burst into a fit of giggles, she was so glad those two idiots were okay, they're spirits were truly impossible to kill. She just wished the others were here with them.

It was midday, the air was still as usual, not so much as a summer breeze to aid the three as they walked along the seemingly endless stretching road. Jack finished his can of food last, and threw it aside on the road. Astrid just finished tending to their wounds by wrapping alcohol-soaked rags around the cuts of their arms and legs. Hiccup was especially thankful since he held the biggest cut along his forearm. Slowly but surely they reached the port, which consisted of many small warehouses, a port station and a harbour full containing three boats only.

"I say we take the smallest one, there by the far end." Jack pointed as they begun to walk down the motorway slope towards the port.

"Nah we'd be better off with the biggest one, it probably has the most fuel." Hiccup disagreed.

"Wait a minute guy's… are those cars parked there?" Astrid pointed out, squinting in the midday sun. After a prolonged stare through the rippling summer heated air, a few cars could indeed be made out.

"It looks like… _oh no._" Jack gasped, catching sight of the few figures that walked around the port.

"If those are bandits I swear." Hiccup threatened, he'd grown tired of these fuckers being everywhere.

As the three got closer, they became more cautious of being seen. They reached the port's entrance, and stuck low out of sight until they reached the outside of the port station.

"They** are** bandits!" Jack whispered, crouching lower behind the row of crates that had been set up.

"What are they doing here!?" Astrid huffed, looking around nervously. There sure were a lot of them, far too many to even try and sneak through.

"Take a look at these crates; they're moving supplies onto boats." Jack pointed out, the crates that were open were loaded from various supplies. Jack dug his hand into one and pulled out a few bottles of fresh bottled water.

"Finders keepers" he shrugged, taking more of the supplies. It's not like they were running low, they obviously had plenty, probably from the mass looting back in the city.

"Bad idea to leave your crates so out of the way though." Jack continued, zipping his bag back up and returning it to his back.

"We need to come up with a plan here guys we can't just sit here." Astrid edged them on, worried someone would soon come over.

"Uhh… maybe we can make a run for the harbour?" Hiccup suggested.

"Nah… Nah we'd be picked off too easily. Maybe if Astrid and I make a distraction, Hiccup you can sneak in and start up the boat. Jack didn't like the idea of leaving Hiccup, but honestly there seemed to be no other choice. Besides Jack was being mindful not to baby Hiccup too much.

"Jack wait… If we take off to Berk, and it's safe… we can't have these bandit's knowing." Astrid placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder for a slight bit of support.

"She's right… we might be able to sneak on the boat, but I don't think we could drive away at full speed without them noticing and coming after us…"

Hiccup agreed, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Well… what if they were too busy to even notice? If we rile them up this'll be a piece of cake." Jack suggested, a cunning smile making itself present.

"How well can you impersonate the infected?" Jack continued, looking to Astrid.

"Now we're talking about a plan here boys, state of the art ninja shit right here." Astrid's malicious smile grew to either side of her face.

The day was incredibly slow for the bandits, the electricity had been cutting on and off all day, though for now it remained on for a little over an hour. Most of the men were inside, entertaining themselves with the facilities kept in the station for waiting times; a pool table, a large television and each other. Since the television kept cutting out most of them had got to telling stories about the horrible things they've done, trying to one-up each other. The few men that were outside had momentarily stopped loading boats to play cards and arm wrestle, there was so rush, for now anyway.

That's when it erupted, from the distant trees underneath the descending motorway; a loud piercing scream, sounding very familiar and very alarming.

"**Infected!**" One rugged bandit shouted, and the entire platform was up on their feet scrambling for weapons and fortifications. They spilt up the groups to each run for a task, some quickly picked up boxes and some armed themselves and rushed to different strategic positions.

During the scramble, Hiccup and Jack managed to rush into the mess of crowd and out again behind the warehouses virtually unseen. A few may have looked strangely toward them due to their civilian looking attire, but none could hold a gaze for longer than a spilt second before someone else would rush past them and break the line of sight; by which time they had already disappeared in the crowd again. The screeches came again, and again. Nearly all the men inside the station come belting out, all facing the green forest, they finally organised themselves into a long line, just in front of the few crates the three not long ago hid behind.

Jack and Hiccup came to a stop beside the warehouse closest to the harbour. There was a steady flow of people picking up boxes and crates from in front of the warehouse and depositing them on the three boats.

"Alright follow my lead, head down and don't make eye contact." Jack reminded Hiccup again, before they both walked quickly out from the side of the warehouse and into it instead. They each picked up one of the boxes and immediately turned into a fast-paced walk onto the harbour. The bandits themselves each rushed past Hiccup and Jack quite successfully. It seems their backpacks seemed to help with the illusion they were moving things now.

One bandit gave an odd look to Jack's pearly hair, though luckily one bandit from the line of armed men shouted that 'he could see one coming' and snapped the bandits head straight back to watching anxiously toward the forest.

"This one, right here!" Jack whispered, reaching the end of the harbour and depositing his box down onto the boats floor. Hiccup did the same, and climbed onto the boat after Jack. Everything became tense now, Jack was panicked at this stage; despite the other bandits going to other boats, there was one who still came over to theirs, the same bandit who appeared to notice Jack.

"Another screech panicked them all again, wow Astrid was good at impersonating the infected.

Speaking of the girl, she came rushing over, onto the harbour and straight past the men loading and right behind the man approaching their boat.

"Have I seen you two around here?" the bandit asked, his tone suspicious and obviously rushed.

Hiccup didn't even need to answer; Astrid came up behind him and stabbed his straight in the stomach. For a moment the man bent forward into the blade in shock, until Astrid slightly push-tackled the man off the end of the harbour and into the water. The other bandits were rushing back to pick up another box, incredible timing to take their eyes away, missing their fellow members grim death by a few seconds.

"Astrid! You're supposed to be making the infected noises!" Hiccup rushed up the boat stairs, heading for the upper landing where Jack fiddled with the hub and steering wheel, trying to start the thing.

"I found someone e-else to-do it for me!" the girl panted heavily, she must of ran from the forest, behind the long route through the warehouses and up to here. Hiccup was clearly confused at her vague explanation, though his oncoming question was answered when another infected scream erupted from the edge of the forest.

"Here they come!" one bandit cried out, prior to the entire line opening fire.

"**The actual infected!?**" Jack grunted, clearly having difficulty with the controls.

"Guys! Someone's taking the boat!" A bandit finally caught on to them, and the three of them were victim to quick glances over shoulders, and some even turned their weapons away from the forest and towards them instead.

"There's too many!" One man shook his head violently, breaking the line and running for the boats instead, followed by a few more.

"**Jack!**" Astrid called in a warning tone, taking out her gun to fight off any bandit who tried to come aboard.

"Where's the manual for this thing!?" Jack searched desperately for a key to start the vehicle.

More and more of them started making off for the boats. One fired a shot to Astrid, but missed by quite a bit, Hiccup returned the shot, scrambling the bandits who were coming onto the harbour to hid behind the crates.

"**Got it!**" Jack called triumphantly, finding the small metal key to start the boat.

"Fucking go for it!" one bandit commanded, pushing two armed men to run down the harbour to their boat. The few men that attempted to hold their defensive line had given up; one was dragged down to the floor by a running infected, and other barely escaping.

The boat engine started, and Jack punched the boat into its acceleration and begun to take off from the harbour. One bandit leaped from the wooden planks and _just made it_ onto the boat.

The sudden acceleration caused Astrid and Hiccup to lose balance, Astrid dropped her gun down the stairs to the feet of the aggressive bandit, who shot repeatedly at the piece of metal plating atop the stairs that separated Astrid and Hiccup from the man.

Jack looked to Hiccup, who silently signalled to him to drive faster. Jack slowly pushed the boat into its fastest acceleration. Astrid became panicked at the sound of the man's footsteps echoing loudly as he trumped up the first stair.

Jack slammed down hard on the accelerator, causing the bandit to lose balance completely and topple down the few stairs he had cautiously stepped up and land on his back.

Hiccup took the chance, since Astrid was unarmed and popped out from the now shot-up metal plating and fired a round, hitting the man_ precisely_ in his temple.

"**Fuck Hiccup!**" Jack commented, looking from the window of the hub to Hiccup, standing in the doorway of the small room. For a moment Hiccup thought he'd feel nauseous and ill, like he did with Snotlout but instead, he felt relief, maybe even a twinge of satisfaction.

Astrid made her way down the steps and picked up her weapon, she holstered it and came to a stop at the still body of the man. She looked for a second; contemplating on how low a man could sink. Honestly she was beyond herself with disgust, she couldn't even look at the body of this swine without wanting to shoot him a few more times.

She grasped onto the body and lifted it up over the edge of the speeding boat, releasing it to give the man a fierce kick off into the water. She breathed a sigh of relief after that, and Hiccup joined her, placing a supporting hand on the girls shoulder. She looked back to the shrinking view of the harbour; it was barely visible, though a few gunshots could still be faintly made out on the wind. No boats had left the harbour, and since Jack had just found the keys to the two other boats lying inside the top compartment of the hub, no boats were ever going to.

"**Jokul! Don't you dare!**" Pitch roared, the very ceiling trembling with his scream, though Jokul didn't let that discourage him.

"I'm telling you Pitch! They got lucky, if they had picked any other boat they would have all been screwed!"

"All I saw was you helping them distract those morons!" Pitch retorted, aggressively returning to his stone goblet, clutching the sides to aid him in calming himself.

"_**Bring. Me. Them.**_" Pitch demanded, yet again. Jokul rolled his eyes underneath his windswept black hair, turning to leave until Pitch's voice halted him again.

"Jokul… don't you dare fail me this time… you come back with those two, or you don't come back at all."

Jokul's upper lip arched in the corner, his eyes becoming slits with his patience finally snapping.

"Oh don't worry, _I'll be back._"

"We're here!" Jack gasped happily, lining up the boat the best he could with the small wooden harbour of Berk island.

Hiccup's eyes lightened up significantly at the sight of it, a fairly sized island, stretching a good way down, growing a thick collection of wild trees and hills.

Jack stopped the boat at the harbour, quite easily since it was empty. The three of them hopped off the boat, and to their relief saw the familiar sight of the long road, which they knew lead from the bottom of this hill, up to the main flat of land Berk village was built on, not 5 minutes from here.

Hiccup could tell Astrid and Jack were tired, though they shared an excited smile, knowing they had finally made it.

As they walked, Astrid pointed out the island was silent, not as much as a squirrel in the trees as they walked. Hiccup became a little suspicious admittedly, though he attempted not to show it. Astrid and Jack continued their conversation on what they wanted most when they got to Berk. There was a thick fog that began to fill the air, Hiccup knew Berk was used to very thick foggy weather most times, but this particular fog seemed unnatural almost.

Finally, the three had reached the village, as Hiccup remembered it was full of well-built men and women of Viking descendant, this time of year all the flowers had sprung and green trees and plants added quite the background to the streets. Little shops were all there were on Berk, though they served their purpose enough, the market was busy, people were happy and life was simple and cosy.

As they arrived into the village, nothing was the same.

The entire place was _wrecked._ Not a person in sight, the flowers and trees were all but burnt to ashes and dust, adding a deserted feeling to the destroyed and debris littered street. Destroyed and ransacked shops were all there were, along with a trashed and empty market. The entire place was a ghost town shrouded in fog, abandoned and unnerving.

"Oh my god…" Astrid gasped in horror of the scene, blood was apparent on the walls of shops and some even smeared along the floor; though no bodies were in sight.

Astrid took off, up the deserted street disappearing into the fog, up further into the housing area.

"Astrid! Wait!" Hiccup called after her, running to catch up, Jack close behind, as to not get lost in this damn fog.

Astrid ran past the collection of small houses, turned the corner and continued onwards, the houses were mostly destroyed their front doors open and some even smashed in. Astrid rushed up past Fishleg's house, Tuff and Ruff's house, and way past Snotlout's. She could hear Hiccup and Jack calling for her a little while back to which she couldn't even see. She came to a stop outside a two story house; the door was broken off its hinges and windows smashed.

Astrid's breath became hitched as she stepped forward, over the door and into her old house.

Astrid was as silent as possible, seeing all her old furniture, her old house and old life started to make her almost dizzy. Her anxiety was running at an all-time high with her determination to find her parents. Astrid searched all the rooms in the house. Nothing remained. Nothing, but a note left on the counter top of the living room.

Hiccup and Jack finally made it outside Astrid's house; everything was incredibly difficult to see through this fog. They made their way into the house slowly, being mindful of what they might discover.

"Astrid?" Hiccup called out, looking around sheepishly for the girl.

She didn't reply, instead she sat still on the living room floor, back against a dirty white sofa in front of a fireplace reading a note, where Hiccup and Jack found her.

"Astrid…?" Hiccup took a steady step toward the girl. She sat with her legs close to her chest, the note crumpled tightly in her fist.

"My parents…" Astrid begun, unsure she could even finish the sentence without breaking.

"They… went to the Cliffside… there was infected… they attacked the town." Astrid sniffed audibly before she could continue.

"The towns people didn't stand a chance… there was no boats either… anybody who was still alive… including my parents went to the Cliffside and… _jumped._" Astrid sighed deeply before tears overflowed in her eyes and painted themselves down her cheek. Hiccup felt his stomach drop, Astrid's sobbing slashing his heart beyond repair.

"Oh… Astrid" Jack went over to comfort her, which she accepted. Hiccup went over to the window, to catch a view of the two story house across the street, he could barely make it out through the fog but, his door was still standing, seemingly untouched.

Hiccup pulled his view away from the house, and went over to Astrid. He knew he'd find nothing but empty rooms and ghosts of the past in that house; he didn't need to hurt more than what he already did. Hiccup sat down by Astrid on the cold floor, knowing full well her spirits and hopes had been destroyed as badly as her home.

Jack managed to get the fire in the living room going; Hiccup had swept up most of the mess on the floor in the living room and replaced the front door as best he could. The hinges still remained off, but at least it gave them an audible crash if something were to push it over.

"The hydroelectric damn must be broken, there's no electricity here." Jack told them, sitting down on the floor in front of the fire with Hiccup and Astrid. They both didn't even seem to care, but none less than Astrid, in fact she seemed as if she were expecting the news.

"I was gonna move back here y'know." Astrid finally spoke. She hadn't said a word, or even moved for almost an hour now.  
Hiccup gazed at her, his back resting against the other end of the sofa, and then to Jack who sat virtually opposite him.

"I was looking at the new properties that were gonna be built here," Astrid's eyes never left the crackling fire, her tone of voice worried Hiccup.

"I was, gonna ask you guys to come with me…" Astrid turned to them, a ghost of a smile appearing on her expression.

"I know neither of us never got along with our parent Hic, but I was hoping we'd come back here… sort things out and we'd be a family again."  
Hiccup looked with pale green eyes around the room, so many memories were locked within everything.

"Do you remember when we would all hang out here?" Hiccup smiled faintly to Astrid and then to Jack. Triggering that memory seemed to lighten them both up slightly.

"Oh man… we used to get that super large pizza from Gobber's food place, and then we'd all come here and stay up like all night." Jack chuckled slightly.

"Tuffnut and Ruffnut would fight over which movies to watch." Hiccup commented.

"Fishlegs would eat like _an entire bag_ of chips before the film even started." Astrid added, with a grin.

"Snotlout would _always_ claim he'd be the last one up, and then fall asleep first." Jack reminded them. They shared a quiet laugh, before coming back down to reality.

"No matter how much I loved living in the city," Astrid took a good look around the room. "**This place** always felt like home, y'know."

"Yeah… I'll never forget this place." Hiccup sighed, nostalgia hung on his breath.

There was a silence, before Astrid spoke once more.

"Hiccup… you should go visit your house." Astrid told him quietly.

"Huh? Oh nah, I say we should really plan our next move, in case-"

"Hiccup." Astrid interrupted him softly. They shared a gaze, before Hiccup gave in with a light nod.

"There is no planning Hic…_ this is the end of the road_ buddy." Astrid lightly punched him on the shoulder. Hiccup offered a sorrowful smile, before standing up and taking a deep breath.

"Jack… _take care of him_ would you." Astrid told the white haired boy, as he stood up with him.

"I always do!" Jack proudly said.

"Oh! And here, I found this with the note, figured you might want it." Astrid handed up a photograph to Hiccup. The boy took it and gave it a long stare. It was a photograph of them all; Hiccup, Astrid, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Jack. They all held wide goofy smiles, taken a few years ago on the day Jack came back and moved in to the house next door to both Astrid and Hiccup. Jack had his arm around Hiccup due to his height advantage, and on the other side was Astrid. Hiccup smiled at the old photograph, and continued that genuine smile over to Astrid, who returned it effortlessly, her last smile not leaving her face until Hiccup and Jack had left the house.

As Hiccup approached his old home, a tight knot begun to tie itself in his stomach, something just wasn't right.

"Do you want me to wait outside?" Jack asked, though Hiccup shook his head quickly in response.

"No… No you should come with me… this place was home for you just as much as it was for me."

Hiccup opened the door with a long creak; the house was dark, though the light piercing through the fog illuminated it enough.

"It hasn't changed huh?" Jack scoffed slightly.

"Not a bit." Hiccup agreed. Though the change was evident to anybody else; the house was dank and empty, though Hiccup knew this house always felt like that, only difference now is that it looked like it too. Hiccup searched the living room first, and Jack went into the kitchen. Hiccup looked over dusty photographs hung on the wall; seems they hadn't been looked at even before this all went down.

Hiccup caught sight of one photograph of his mother, his father and him. The photo said a lot, especially that forced smile on Hiccup's face. They were standing in a field, Hiccup holding a rifle far too big for him, his father obviously proud of himself and his mother, looking clearly concerned and almost sorry for her son.

That day Hiccup was pretty much forced into going hunting with his father. Despite numerous explanations Hiccup gave about not wanting to kill an animal his father ignored him; it was his desperate attempts to mould a stereotypical manly man out of his fishbone son. Hiccup's mother always understood though, you could tell by the look on both their faces;_ Hiccup __**was never**__ going to live up to his father's expectations._

Funny looking back at it now though… Hiccup's mother had died not long after that photograph was taken, and since then the house had been as void and empty as it was now.

"Hey Hic…" Jack nudged him lightly.

"Hm? Sorry what?" Hiccup grasped his own face and wiped it best he could.

"Uh, I know what you must be thinking… but remember you didn't run away, from all this I mean." Jack was careful with his words, though they seemed to do the correct job of reminding Hiccup of his constant troubling thoughts. It's true, Hiccup did sometimes feel as if he ran away from all his problems, with his father, ran away from Berk and all of its bad memories.

"Isn't that exactly what I've done though?" Hiccup sighed, connecting eyes with Jack now.

"My father and I, yeah we never did see eye to eye, especially towards the end of my time here, but I could tell he was trying Jack. He'd at least make an effort, and I'd always shut him out." Hiccup could feel his eyes glaze over slightly, and so he stopped himself.

"Hiccup, I know what your father was like with you. I get it, you feel like you abandoned him, but Hiccup you have to remember he abandoned you too."

Hiccup breathed deeply, his chest was heavy and the knot in his stomach grew tighter.

"Hic, I know you feel like this is your fault but you can't always blame yourself… Your father never could let his expectations of you go; it's what caused that obvious barrier between you two. Even if you did let him in and tried to mend things with him eventually those expectations would come running straight back and force you two apart again! It happened so many times before; it isn't your fault Hiccup." Jack tried to keep his words calm and tender, but the message was blunt enough to make Hiccup clamp his face in an attempt to stabilise his emotions.

Jack placed a hand on the boys shoulder to support him, feeling uneasy as Hiccup looked back up to him.

"Hiccup, you know when I told you that I'd had a fight with my family and that's why I came here?" Jack watched Hiccup carefully as his expression changed.

"Well… that wasn't exactly true." Jack admitted, he knew one day he'd have to tell him.

Hiccup readied himself for what he was about to hear, though a smile whisper on the wind distracted him.

The voice repeated Astrid's words to him; 'End of the line… take care of him.'

Hiccup's eyes grew wide in fear, his heart begun to pound as he understood. Hiccup spun around to the window, and ran over to look out towards Astrid's house; out of the unnerving silence, a single gunshot sound echoed out into the fog.

Hiccup **screamed** out her name, though he knew he was too late, tears flowing now; how could he have been so stupid and blind.

Jokul watched closely from the roof of Jack's old house, Toothless sitting silently beside him. He wouldn't be surprised if the entire island heard the scream that just erupted from the house beside them.

"The girl's shot herself… shouldn't we take her down to Pitch?" Toothless looked over to the boy, who seemed in deep thought.

"No… screw pitch… I'm done with him." Jokul sighed, unmoved by Toothless clearly becoming anxious.

"Jokul… what are you doing?" Toothless growled slightly at the boy.

"Toothless, you can be a lackey for Pitch if you want. I'm done with him, he's only gonna replace us once he gets those two down to the underworld. If you want to **try** and fight me go ahead, I'm telling you now_ it won't end well._" Jokul spat back, immediately silencing Toothless's growl.

"…So what **do** we do?" Toothless slowly asked, comprehending the traitorous act against their creator.

Hiccup ran full speed from his house into the street, Jack close behind; only to be stopped when the beast from the motorway crashed into the ground before them.

"Hiccup look out!" Jack immediately went for his weapon, but as soon as he drew it, the gun was knocked from his hand by a strong gust of wind. Jokul flew down from the house, blocking the way besides Toothless. Hiccup hadn't drawn his weapon; instead he remained firm, making eye contact with the strange hybrid of a creature.

"You're the Jack that's been following us." Hiccup panted, glaring now to the strange replica of his friend.

"Who the hell are you" Jack demanded, joining Hiccup opposite the two.

"Name's Jokul and this is Toothless…" Jokul flipped his jagged wooden staff up onto his shoulder as he spoke.

"Long story short we're here to take both your souls to the underworld."

Hiccup looked bewildered, his hand reaching slowly for his weapon.

"Well..._ we were._" Toothless grunted, looking to Jokul.

"What do you mean?" Jack quickly demanded from the two, he was anxious for a weapon, or any means of escaping these things.

"Listen… we can help you rescue your friends-" Jokul dwindled his staff in his finger's.

"Rescue them!? You're the ones who godamn killed them!" Hiccup shot back, taking this chance to draw his weapon and threaten them with it. Toothless changed into a pouncing position, but Jokul quickly eased the beast.

"Whoa! Whoa, calm down." Jokul tried to sooth, he offered his staff as a peace offering, and put the black stick gently on the ground in-between them.

"We did yes, but they're not gone entirely."

"Bullshit." Jack sneered; he couldn't believe the shit these two were coming out with.

"Jack, you're speaking with a **demon clone** of yourself, maybe you should be more open minded." Jokul raised an eyebrow to the boy.

"_What are you talking about?_" Hiccup sighed, tightening his sweating palm on the gun.

"Okay okay hold on, Lemmie explain." Jokul huffed.

"You're friends souls, and most other peoples have been collected, by Pitch Black in the underworld."

"_Collected?_" Hiccup repeated, looking bewildered.

"Yeah, you see Pitch collects the souls of the dead, and he twists them and turns them into demons, which he's now begun to send back up to earth. It's where this infection had come from." Jokul informed the two, who seemed intent on finding out more.

"Why does he want** our** souls then? What's wrong with anyone else's?" Jack questioned quickly.

"Not yours Jack, he wants Hiccup's soul in particular… _you don't have a soul to take._"

Jack's eyes widened at that, he took a step forward toward Jokul.

"What do you mean…" Jack's expression became distressed. Jokul glared back, for a moment not believing Jack didn't know.

"Jack, there's a reason you're so good at killing… there's a reason you can feel that darkness inside of you…" Jokul took steps closer to Jack, Hiccup had all but lowered the gun, in shock of what he was hearing.

"Where do you think I've come from Jack? I'm you, except I'm all the darkness inside you."

Jack felt a dry lump in his throat form, his breath still and he come face to face with himself.

"_You're already a demon Jack_… you have been for quite some time now." Jokul's voice was sinister once more.

"Jack… what's he talking about?" Hiccup's voice quivered, his eyes wide watching Jack turn to him in absolute stupefaction.

"Before, I came to Berk… like I was just about to tell you." Jack began, eyes wandering across the floor in relapse.

"I lived in a village… it was quiet and boring, away from any major city or town… one day three of these escaped criminals broke into our house, it was late and my parents were asleep. They dragged us all into our living room… said they were gonna kill us… they beat up my parents pretty bad, even my little sister… and I had to do something… So when one of them wasn't looking, I grabbed a knife I hid under the sofa and stabbed him… the others were screaming, pointing their weapons at me… and I felt it again, this dark feeling inside of me… I can barely remember any of it but I brutally killed all three of them… apparently I was so deranged I didn't even notice when one bullet… hit and killed my little sister." Jack's voice broke off slightly, he looked as if he was going to be sick.

"At the trial, I was found not guilty due to self-defensive… but it still didn't shift my guilt… Everyday I had to live with the fact that my carelessness, this darkness that I let control me got my sister killed… people in the village started to call me a murderer, said** I** should be the one locked up. Some even made rumours that _I was the one who killed her_… even my parents eventually turned their back on me. They started sending in professional doctors and psychiatrist's to me, thought I was going mad._ I could tell they didn't want me anymore,_ that they were ashamed… So one day I packed up and left… it was a few days till Christmas I left… I didn't have hardly any money, no idea on what to do or where to go, ended up on a train to the south of the country, ended up near a port… snuck on a boat and ended up here… and that's when I met you remember? And your dad let me stay in the spare room? And Evan gave me a job working at the market…" Jack sighed outwardly, Anxious to hear Hiccup comment. The auburn hair boy stared back intensely, shocked on everything he had just heard.

"Close, but that's not exactly what happened." Jokul interrupted, the two had almost forgotten they were here.

"When you left home, you came across a lake… it was frozen over remember?" Jokul pressed, though he did so in vain, for Jack didn't remember a thing about a lake.

"Then… when you were crossing the lake, you heard your sister's voice."

'**Jack!'** the voice in Jack's head exploded, filling his head with the memory.

"Oh my god… I remember now!" Jack gasped, reliving the memory in detail.

"But it wasn't my sister's voice! It was… it was _another_ little girl… from my village!" Jack was panting heavily now, Hiccup rushed over to support him.

"She had been out ice-skating… and the ice was cracking! … she… she called my name, she need my help and I… I stayed there with her… I remember us talking as I found something nearby to pull her with…and I found this stick with an arch… I told her she reminds me of my sister!" Jack looked to Hiccup, and then back to the ground, and then again, as if the memory were happening right before his eyes, and he was telling it to Hiccup.

"And then… I saved her… but I had to swap myself with her place on the ice! … then it broke… and I fell in the lake… and it was cold… and dark… and then…." Jack gaped at the air for a moment in disbelief.

"_And then I died_…"

"So you do remember then…" Jokul said, Jack looked to him questioningly.

"If Pitch made me a demon… and sent me back to earth… why aren't I evil?"

Jokul frowned at the question, biting his lip absent minded.

"You are… you were supposed to be his most brilliant work; the _Angel of Death_ himself… Well you have the potential, as you know… there's just, **something** inside of you Pitch **couldn't change,** something that makes you good… no matter how hard he tried he couldn't _**corrupt your center.**_"

"Which is why he created you Jokul isn't it?" Toothless added in.

"Yes… I'm really just a clone of you… you see Pitch can't take your center out of you; the original. But _he could_ take it out of me; a clone. He was supposed to make me his very own _Devil of Death_, to rival you…"

"But you're helping us…" Hiccup spoke up, regaining himself after all this insane talk.

"….I am…" Jokul spoke to himself more than anybody, almost as if he had just realised.

"Maybe you just weren't made to be evil Jack Frost." Jokul muttered to Jack, connecting their eyes in a trusting stare.

"Listen we don't have much time," Jokul shook his head and returned to picking up his staff.

"You're friends are all in the underworld with Pitch, we can take you there and we can rescue your friends and bring them back here to the living world." Jokul quickly explained, signalling Toothless to begun to map out the portal.

"If we recue your friends, there are others we can rescue aswell; a resistance group inside the underworld known as 'The Guardians.' They're in pretty bad shape at the moment though, if we can find them and help them, we'll have ourselves a proper team, capable of stopping Pitch and reversing this plague."

"Wait! What's the underworld like?" Jack asked, clearly confused.

"The underworld is an _exact replica_ of this world; Pitch resides in the city of the underworld. It's completely the same as the city you all came from, expect its… dark. Its evil, and more importantly it's crawling with demons and maddened souls." Jokul explained, as Toothless set up the last parts of the portal.

"You see Pitch doesn't need to physically change the souls he collects; he just lets them all wander around the ruins of this city, without a purpose and without any means of escape, eventually the souls go mad, unable to die or live they're stuck in limbo, and the only way out is to become demons and work for Pitch; which he's now sending back up to earth now. He's trying to bring the entire underworld up to earth, to turn earth into another underworld. Hell on earth."

"You'd better hope your friends can hold out until we can get to them!" Toothless added, opening up a large glistening purple vortex. Jack and Hiccup gasped in amazement at the sight, this all has happened so fast; they barely had any time to think.

"Are you sure you wanna do this Hiccup?" Jack grasped the boy by the shoulders, looking deep into those green orbs.

"It's our only option Jack… we have to." Hiccup encouraged him, placing his palm softly on Jack's face.

"Hiccup.. about what Jokul said… about me being a demon…" Jack sighed, he knew now wasn't the time to ask but he didn't know if he'd even get another chance.

"Jack… demon or not…** I love you.**" Hiccup smiled warmly, his heart pounding in his chest. Jack's eyes lit up at hearing that. He chuckled slightly at the way in which he didn't even need to finish his question, pulling Hiccup closer.

"Hiccup… you know I've been _madly_ _in love with you_ since the moment I met you right?" Jack asked, rather nervously.

Hiccup grinned at him, not breaking eye contact as he went in for a long, passionate kiss. The two didn't break apart for what seemed like forever; their lips gently conveying messages their mouths were far too clumsy to express.

Hiccup broke the kiss with an affectionate smile.

"**Always.**" Hiccup beamed to him brightly.

"_After many years, Hiccup and Jack decided they should really get a move on before Jokul murders them both before they can have steamy hot butt-sex under the stars." _Jokul commentated sarcastically when the two finally joined him and Toothless by the large warping portal.

"Jack, you're with me! Toothless go with Hiccup, we'll meet up at that Guardian safehouse we discovered Toothless, you ready?" Jokul nodded to the hybrid, who returned the gesture.

"Alrighty, let's do this!" Jokul exclaimed, taking Jack by the hand and jumping straight into the portal. Toothless wrapped his tail around Hiccup's waist, and jumped in right afterwards; the portal to the underworld closing behind them.

**It was time.**

**They're adventure had just begun.**

A/N: Sooo! That was the first beta chapter of Corrupted Center!

-I'm British so excuse my spelling of Center-

If you guys would like to see more of this, please leave some feedback or a like or whatever! Anything you do REALLY helps me out with determining which fic's you want to read and which you don't.

I only say because the time I spent writing this fic, could be spent writing another chapter of Frosted Aspirations, which you guys seem to really enjoy, I wouldn't want to delay the updates of Fic's you DO want to read, because I'm busy updating fic's you DON'T really wanna read... Does that make sense?

You can leave you're feedback here ofc, or if you wanna be extra special and lovely, you can leave it here on my Tumblr aswell! -  
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Thank you a million times over for reading! Hopefully I'll be seeing you all again soon!


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